Affiliation

High Charity was the Covenant's mobile planetoid station and the capital city, known as the Holy City of the Covenant or the Prophets' Holy City.[3] Effectively, it was the collective's united homeworld.

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It was a large mushroom-shaped structure, 348 kilometers in diameter. At the apex of this "mushroom" was an artificial star that simulated natural sunlight within the city. This star doubled as a launch pad for the Forerunner dreadnought, the ship at the center of the city. The stalk tapered to a point, with various branches emanating from it, likely for service as docking bays. The city was mobile, could jump through Slipspace, and was almost completely powered by the engines of the decommissioned Forerunner vessel. The Forerunner dreadnought's engines were powerful enough to run the city on a fraction of their potential output.[4] However, the station also possessed a set of auxiliary reactors that were capable of generating enough power for slipspace travel.[5]

In the internal hub of High Charity lay an extremely large capital city. In its center sat the Forerunner dreadnought, embedded within the city after the formation of the Covenant as a symbol of conviction and peace between the Sangheili and the San'Shyuum.

The city itself contained many locations sacred to the Covenant such as the Council Chamber, the Sanctum of the Hierarchs and the Mausoleum of the Arbiter. As a construct, High Charity was very similar to the Unyielding Hierophant, a repair & refit station, though it also served as a mobile command post. Unlike many small Covenant vessels and their UNSC counterparts, High Charity contained many courtyards and other non-essential spaces which gave the station a terrestrial feel. The interior of High Charity was filled with the Covenant's unique architecture, of a lighter tone than their naval vessels. All of the structures within the city floated above a methane-rich field in which the millions of High Charity's Unggoy lived. The massive towers around the dome were gigantic spires of volcanic rock from the city's base, interwoven with metal supports and covered with decorative alloy. They were used by the San'Shyuum as offices and private residences.[6]

High Charity was so important to the Covenant Empire that it was endowed with its own personal defense fleet, which consists of hundreds of battleships, carriers and cruisers. Some of the biggest fleets in the entire Covenant armada defended the city, such as the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity and the late Fleet of Particular Justice. As it was the Covenant's major religious center and capital, High Charity was enormously sacred to the Covenant. It was thought that true believers should visit it at least once in ones lifetime, though few of the Covenant could afford to do so. It was full of Sangheili and San'Shyuum High Councilor, and the general leadership of the entire alien hegemony. It can be assumed that High Charity had its own set of powerful energy shields and defensive weapons. Despite its considerable defense assets it was unable to withstand the great Flood assault. The station's shields are most likely why the Flood entered it with UNSC In Amber Clad by a precise Slipspace jump: it allowed them to bypass any and all outer defenses.

Along the outer wall on the inside of High Charity were several towers, each containing rooms and hallways. Two of these towers were referred to by Cortana as the Mid Tower and the Far Tower. Most of these towers were connected to the two surrounding towers by the Hanging Gardens and the Valleys of Tears, but the towers containing the Council Chamber and the Mausoleum of the Arbiter were both notably only connected to the sections between them. Hanging far above the Mausoleum of the Arbiter was a part of the Sanctum of the Hierarchs, a large chamber decorated with shards of glass from worlds devastated by the Covenant. Below these structures are the lower districts.

Construction of High Charity begin in 852 BCE, taking 204 years until its completion in 648 BCE.[2] From the Covenant's earliest recorded history, the San'Shyuum ended their civil war by launching the Forerunner dreadnought from their home planet along with a chunk of rock. This chunk would later be built into High Charity. The city was erected during the Sangheili-San'Shyuum war and completed following the war's conclusion. The Forerunner dreadnought that the San'Shyuum used in the war was stripped of all known weapons and permanently installed inside High Charity. Because the city is mobile, it is extremely difficult for the lesser creatures of the hegemony to make journeys to the capital, yet it manages to establish a network of Slipspace probes to protect its position. Anything larger than a millimeter in diameter that drifted too close was engaged and obliterated, including ships that failed to transmit proper clearance codes within a millisecond of hailing.

Eventually, the Forerunner dreadnought at High Charity's core took off, with both the Prophet of Truth and John-117 inside, leaving Cortana behind. It appears that the Covenant forces on both sides completely abandoned High Charity afterward, and it was completely infested by the Flood. The Gravemind took complete control of the Sanctum of the Hierarchs, using the Council Chamber itself as his "throne room."[8]

As High Charity and Installation 05 were rapidly falling to the Flood, a massive battle between Sangheili and Jiralhanae held ships continued in the space around the city. The SangheiliSeparatists eventually succeeded in driving away the Jiralhanae or they possibly retreated on orders from Truth to assist in the conquest of Earth. But this led to the fall of High Charity to the Flood under the command of the Gravemind who used this as his second base and gained a significant amount of ships. He sent one to infest Africa and from there all of Earth.

The Sangheili fleet formed a large perimeter and quarantined High Charity and Installation 05, attempting to prevent the Flood from infesting any other systems.[3] Presumably all but one escaped Flood ship was destroyed, according to a Sangheili that was deployed to assist John-117 and the Arbiter. This ship, and the surrounding area of Africa were cleansed of the Flood, by means of glassing by the pursuing Sangheili ships.

The Gravemind, able to make the jump, but not keep High Charity completely intact,[9] narrowly missed colliding with the SangheiliAssault CarrierShadow of Intent, during the Battle of Installation 00 at the Citadel. It disgorged Flood dispersal pods (one of which damaged the carrier) and crashed on the Installation. Covered with Flood biomass and with the interior transformed into a Flood hive, High Charity was almost unrecognizable.[10] The Mausoleum of the Arbiter was one of the few remaining structures still recognizable within the infested city.

After stopping Truth from activating the rings, John-117 returned to the Flood-infested High Charity on a mission to retrieve Cortana, which he successfully completed. At her recommendation, he overloaded the reactor core, by destroying its pylons, as he maneuvered back through High Charity to meet the Arbiter and re-activate the crashed Pelican to fly out of range of the explosion. High Charity was completely destroyed in the resulting explosions, with only the outer structure remaining when Installation 08 was fired, its debris showering the inactive Installation and the Ark below. Unfortunately, the Gravemind still managed to escape.[11]

After the incomplete Halo installation fired, the Sentinels on the Ark begun eliminating any remaining Flood forms and activated a defensive grid around the remains of the High Charity in order to stop the Flood from further spreading. Over the years, rumors within and beyond the Covenant begun spreading about "scary monsters" residing inside the High Charity quarantine zone.[12]

By 2559, following The Reclamation, Atriox and his Banished followers begun salvaging old Covenant equipment and weapons from around the zone. However, thanks to Voridus' lust for the goods left by the Covenant and his desire to please his master, the Banished breached through the grid and ventured within the shell of High Charity.[12]

A small Jiralhanae reconnaissance squad was completely overhelmed and infected by the Flood still active within the High Charity, taking on the Banished forces waiting outside. Over the course of hours, the Flood was able to overrun majority of Atriox's defenses set around the High Charity and able to form a Proto-Gravemind,. However, the Banished were successful in defeating the Proto-Gravemind before the Flood took control of the entire Installation. A reactivated quarantine sent swarms of sentinels heading toward High Charity, sterilizing the remaining Flood infested lands along their way.[12]

The appearance of High Charity in Halo 3 is different than its Halo 2 design, Flood growth not taken into account. The Halo 2 design shows a long thin central spire extending from the bottom of the planetoid and is thick with docking tubes. The Halo 3 version has the spire as a more conical shape with far fewer docking tubes extending from it.